Smoking Gun

SCIENCE AND MEDICINE SCOPE

April 1, 1990

Cigarettes and ulcers don't mix, as many smokers who have experienced the aggravated pain when they light up know. Now University of Maryland researchers believe they have discovered why this happens. Cigarette smoke inactivates a compound called epidermal growth factor that aids healing throughout the body, reported Dr. Sudhir Dutta and Dr. Robert F. Meirowitz. As levels of the growth factor decline, ulcer healing slows down, they said.